


Izuku of the Absolution

by snb



Category: Code Geass, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Crossover, Deconstruction, Gen, No Smut, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-04-28 20:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14457255
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snb/pseuds/snb
Summary: There was once a boy who dreamed of heroism, yet the world denied the dream before it even came to exist. And yet, he is given a chance, not from his idol, but a bearer of days long past.





	1. The Day a New Hero was Born

**Author's Note:**

> This is a cross-post from FanFiction. I have never used this site before, but I heard that it has a significantly better userbase (and, judging from the 'reviews' I get on FF, that's not a very high bar to overcome).

A green-haired woman found herself wandering aimlessly, yet she did not mind, for she had been wandering for a very long time. Problem was, eating a pizza while walking and holding a pizza box proved to be a challenging task, even for an immortal. The solution was simple: find a place to sit. But, there was no appealing bench nearby, so she continued wandering. Until she hound herself at a park, with luscious green grass and five boys playing on the swing set in the playground. She sat the box down next to her, took out another slice, and continued happily munching away, thankful that Pizza Hut didn't go out of business following the war (seriously, the food chain seemed to be about as immortal as she was).

Her happy munching got interrupted by crying and shouting. One of the boys was standing up for another against three.

"You made him cry, Kacchan! If you don't stop, I'll... I'll... I'll stop you myself!"

The woman watched as two of the boys' various body parts morphed, and the third created a small explosion in his hands.

"With what powers, runt! You don't have a Quirk, so, how about we teach you a lesson about what happens to Quirkless boys who don't know their place!"

And so, she watched as the three boys mercilessly bloodied the boy who did the morally right thing, but had no power to defend it. When the fight was over, the bloodied and bruised boy picked himself up and started limping away, but not before noticing the green-haired woman. As they locked eyes, the woman could not help but feel sympathy in spite of his naïveté. It reminded her of another raven-haired teenager, a boy with good intentions but no way to act on them. Until he met her, that is.

* * *

#  Stage 1: The Day a Hero was Born

Late. Again. That seemed to be a constant in Izuku's life when it came to getting to school. At least he would have an excuse, though he wasn't sure if anyone would believe "a Villain was holding up the train lines." And yet, he could not help but be mesmerized by the Villain's quirk, which, at first glance, seemed to be some form of gigantism. His admiration of those with Quirks grew even more when he saw the Villain's subduing at the masterful hands of a new Pro Hero, Kamui Woods.

At the same time, the young boy felt disparaged. He would never have any kind of power come to him as easily as they had it. No, Izuku Midoriya would have to _work_ for his power. Because, no matter what others said, he would never lose hope that there would be some way for him to become a hero. So long as he remembered that crying boy's face from so many years ago, he would strive to make sure he would never see it again. But being a hero was for another time. Now, he had middle school, a.k.a. "the place to go when you want to be beat up by Kacchan" (judging from his own experience, anyway).

School came and went like every other day. Including the average beat-down by Kacchan. Of course, Kacchan never liked to be called that, as he much preferred his real name, Katsuki Bakugou. As such, the end result was another prat of his skin left slightly charred by Kacchan's antics.

As he walked home, Izuku thought of the best way to explain what happened to him today, seeing as 'I tripped' seemed to no longer suffice. As such, he chose to use the explanation "I got knocked over by a baseball in batting practice"? That would explain the arm bruise, then he could say the leg burn came from me sliding on the ground, mentally thanking the physical properties of friction for that. As much as he got annoyed with Bakugou's antics, Izuku still hung around him, as Bakugou would never truly maim or hurt him, and, should anyone threaten him, Kacchan would feel obligated to protect him as a way to prove his own superiority. Having solved that problem, his mind continued to muse about random events and happenings around him on his walk home.

His musing was short-lived, as a city-wide alert started. The target: a brown slime Villain with a hostage in tow. The location: the street Izuku was walking down on. As the Villain came into view, most people went into a panic and started running away. Izuku was not 'most people,' however. He started running after the Villain and conjuring up plans on getting the hostage out of his clutches. The Villain moved into an alley, and Izuku moved to follow. Had he been more careful and observant of his environment, he would have noticing the small boy in front of him. However, he wasn't until the last second. Upon finally seeing the boy, Izuku swerved out of the way and ran straight into the window of a shop next to the alley. The boy uttered a quick apology and ran off along with the rest of the crowd, at which point Izuku regained his senses and started running into the alley to catch up, but it was too late. The Villain was gone.

Izuku never gives up without a fight, so he continued down the alley, hoping to find some trace of the entity that created such a ruckus. The alley was dilapidated, as it had not been given post-war treatment yet. Government was too busy dealing with the constant influx of Villains. As he scoured, he cam across a piece of rubble with poster sticking out from underneath. "WANTED" was all the lettering he could see. Upon pulling a concrete slab off of it, he was able to read it in its entirety.

**WANTED: ZERO**

**Reward: £15,000,000**

At the middle of the poster starred a man in a black mask and a black suit. _So, this is how it was like during the rebellion,_ Izuku mused. His history classes hadn't gotten there yet, they had only just reached the point of Napoleon's invasion into Britain, and its leaders' subsequent defection. However, he had done his fair share of research, and the articles were fascinating, with great debate on how the leader of said rebellion was able to pull off some of his most extreme schemes. Izuku folded up the poster and put in his backpack as something to be analyzed in more detail at a safer place (namely his home).

He came to a fork, and with no prior clues found, he chose randomly. He made a choice, and he stuck to it. And heard something that he wasn't expecting. Instead of hearing either the hostage's screams or something that sounded like a slime moving, he heard quiet mumbling.

"The drop point is roughly 50 meters away, followed by a left, right?"

"Can't be. Scout reported significantly higher activity than expected. I haven't gotten any status updates from Leader. Damn, they're always making us guess, the bastards."

"If only that idiot didn't run through this path. What part of 'make sure to put space between us' didn't he fucking understand?"

Izuku took a single peek around the corner. Two men, and a body bag. He jumped back at the sight, but not without kicking up some rocks in the process.

"Who's there?"

The next sound Izuku heard terrified him to no extent: the cocking of a barrel. Guns had been outlawed over 50 years ago, as there was no need for them in a world with so many superpowers. In fact, not a single one was ever reported in the news or on the internet over the last two decades. So, to have one meant to be above the law. Izuku knew now, these were no people to be trifled with. One wrong move, and not only him, but his only remaining family would find themselves an early grave. Izuku's thoughts began to cloud with that of his mother, Inko, and he knew he had to make it out alive, for her sake at least.

The young boy jumped behind a nearby dumpster and evaluated his (few) options. _I could surrender. No, I know they have guns, and they couldn't let that get out. I could try and run. No, they would immediately spot me and shoot me down._ With the simple options out of the way, he silently slid his backpack off and took inventory. Several notebooks, some paper towels, a butane torch (they were doing chemistry experiments in school), a laptop, and some charging cables. Nothing to arm himself with. But, as luck would have it, there was a liquor bottle next to him behind the dumpster that was still fairly full. With that, he had a plan. And yet, he hesitated. Did he have it in him to to take a life? Could he justify it? As he continued evaluating his options, he found his thoughts interrupted by a click.

"Put your hands up in the air, stand up."

So, Izuku did as he was told, and got up slowly, stammering out an explanation as to what he was doing.

"I-I-I didn't mean to see you guys, I swear! I was simply following the slime villain. You know, the one you were talking about earlier?"

The men stopped and lowered their guns.

"So you heard us, then? Either way, we believe you. You don't seem like the kind of kid who hangs around here anyway. Just the wrong place at the wrong time."

One of them raised their guns again.

"Unfortunately for you, kid, policy dictates 'no witnesses.' Today is just not your day. I'll make it as painless as possible, through. Just don't resist." The man spoke of killing as if it were as simple as taking a shower. Izuku, from this, gathered one thing: there was no escape. For he was Quirkless. Power dictates who lives and who dies. And he had none. And yet, the best thing he could do was make sure his mother wouldn't get involved, make sure he protected at least one person. So he obeyed.

Then, Izuku noticed movement out of the corner of his eyes, and a grunt from one of the mooks. Izuku's yet-to-be executioner whipped around towards the source of the movement and fired. Into a green-haired woman. Calm turned to anger as the man shouted at his partner.

"Dammit, I thought you secured the fucking bag!"

"I thought I did! You didn't tell me she was so damn strong!" the second mook groaned out.

The woman fell to the ground, and Izuku rushed over to see if he could do anything. All the while, Izuku had one thought running through his mind. _One person. I couldn't save one girl!_ And yet, he tried. He tried and he tried and he tried. And there was nothing. His executioner turned back towards him and lifted the gun up once more.

"Pardon the interruption. As I said, it will be quick and mostly painless." Once again, Izuku thought of something, anything to save himself, but the only thing he could to was reach for the girl in vain. He couldn't protect himself, he couldn't this girl. He had no power, nothing. He thought he could become a hero, the strongest there ever was. What a joke. _And yet... and yet!_ And Izuku Midoriya found his hand embraced by that of a dead woman.

" **You don't want it to end here, do you? You appear to have a reason for living. If I give you power, could you go on? I propose a deal. In exchange for this power you must agree to make my one wish come true. Accept this contract and you accept its conditions. While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other. A different providence, a different time, a different life. The power of the king will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared for this?** "

Izuku's reply was heartfelt, and quick.

" **I accept!** "

The young boy got up slowly, and faced the two men who dared to kill him, one of which was getting up following the woman's attack. A red crane enveloped his left iris. And, with that, Izuku Midoriya spoke.

" **Relinquish your weapons and forget about us. Peacefully turn yourselves in to the proper police authorities. Admit to all actions that would be considered in a court of law as illegal. and allow yourselves to be fully processed by the public judicial system.** "

With a glowing red ring around their eyes, the two men put down their guns and walked off towards the street. Adrenaline retook Izuku's body as he began to process the events that had taken place over the last two minutes. In conclusion, he did what anyone else would have.

He ran.


	2. The White Blaze Awakens

A formerly dead woman opened her eyes. Well, actually, she groaned first, then opened her eyes. She lost her mortality a long time ago, but, unfortunately for her, her sensation didn't. And fatal gunshot wounds _hurt_. Luckily, by the time she had woken up, most of the wound had healed itself, and would be fully done within the next hour.

That's not to say the contract didn't pain her, either. While actually creating the contract doesn't create much strain, gathering information about her new contractor in the short amount of consciousness she had left did. She made it a point over the years to not fail after having learned her lesson sometime in the 1700s (learning about the aftermath in the news was a rather awkward thing for her). So, she set out after her contractor, his name and address safely locked away in her mind.

* * *

# Stage 2: The White Blaze Awakens

Izuku ran. He ran and he ran and he ran, a singular sinister thought filling up his mind. _Who was that man, that man who spoke with my voice and gestured with my hands? Could that have been me?_ The events seemed so surreal to the boy that he almost could not believe it. And so, he ran.

Home. There he had warm comfort of his bedroom, where he can calm down think things through. He had finally arrived. The only thing left to do was walk through the door. But first, Izuku had to calm himself down and make sure he had a believable explanation for his mother that didn't involve guns or anything remotely mortally dangerous. _Nothing happened. Nothing happened. I just got into a little bit of a scuffle with Kacchan, Mom. I'm fine._

 _Kacchan._ As Izuku thought of the boy, an idea came into his mind. _Maybe he can solve my problem._ That thought gave him hesitation. Maybe he should go talk to him, tell him the truth. _Nah, he wouldn't believe me. I don't even believe myself._ And yet, Izuku stood in front of his home and did not open the door. He didn't need to anyway, as his mother nearly knocked it over for him.

"Where have you been? I heard about that Villain on the news and I just started panicking! Why didn't you call? You had me so worried!" (In hindsight, Izuku was rather glad his mother didn't call him and announced his position to the gunmen after him.) "Oh, my God, what happened to you? What's with all the scrapes?"

"I'm sorry, mom. I just got into a slight scuffle with Kacchan, that's all."

"Oh, that boy. I'm going to need to call his mother again. Come, let's get you cleaned up."

"I'm fine, mom. I can clean myself up now." (Seriously, she did not know when to stop treating him like a little kid.) He entered the bathroom, locked the door, and faced the mirror. He tried to remember how he did it the first time. Ah, yes, there it was. It's as if it were a muscle, and all he had to do was flex it. In his mirror reflection, he saw a red crane flap it's wings and overlay itself on his iris, surrounding his pupil. Izuku's first instinct was to scream, but he bit it back. The last thing he wanted to do was alert his mother to his newfound... Quirk? He didn't know what to call it, now that he thought of it. So, he just left it at the default name for superpowers nowadays until he could learn more about it. 

At least, now he knew he had to talk to Kacchan. While the boy was arrogant, harsh, and a bully in general, he was smart. He was also the only person Izuku could turn to. So, he finished cleaning up his scrapes and set out towards the door.

"I gotta go, mom. I'll be right back."

"Where are you going, dear? It's dangerous right now, can't you wait until the Villain problem is over?"

"It's a friend, and it can't wait. I'll be right back, mom. I promise." Izuku sped out the door before his mother could stop him or ask any more questions.

Running. He seemed to do a lot of that lately. Running from bullies, running from Villains, running from mooks, running from his problems, just to name a few. Though, he did have to say that running _to_ his bullies was a first for him. Regardless, now was not the time to worry about such things. His main problem was the gift that green-haired woman left him as she... Izuku shook his head of that memory and dedicated all his focus to learning his new power. From what he remembered, it seemed for compel the targets to do whatever he says. He didn't know it's limitations or it's requirements for use, and yet it still terrified him. After all, it seemed like the perfect Quirk for a Villain. He needed to learn more, and figure out how he can use it to be a Hero.

Izuku's train of thought got interrupted by a crowd drawing near him. So, he slowed down, and listened in.

"That guy seems like a real problem, think we ought to run away?"

"Where are the Heroes? Shouldn't they be here already?"

Now that got Izuku's attention. So, he went to take a closer look, burrowing himself into the front of the crowd. There, two familiar faces revealed themselves. The first was that of slime, the same slime villain that he had seen earlier. The second was that of white, spiky hair. Katsuki Bakugou found himself trapped under the slime, and no one was there to help him. Save for Izuku Midoriya, that is. And so, he moved to act, already coming up with a simple two-word command to solve the problem in its entirety. And yet, he hesitated. Was he missing something? As he thought of it, turns out that yes, he was.

There were two things to be considered before he could act. The first was that of safety; how could he get close to the villain without getting captured himself? The second was that of influence; considering he had already come to the conclusion that his new Quirk is better left hidden for now, how could he use his new power without letting others know of it? However, there is always a solution. And he just found one. Stepping in front of everyone else, Izuku Midoriya faced the Villain, and asked one question.

"If you don't mind my asking, what do you hope to gain from kidnapping an innocent boy?"

The Villain's response was filled with vitriol. "Freedom, boy! You know nothing of how hard it is for me!"

"And yet, don't you think you could be a lot happier and gain truly everything by acting as an upstanding member of society as the rest of the world sees it? If you continue on like this, you will spend the rest of your life in a jail cell!"

"Who do you think you are to cast judgement to my actions? You're just a little runt!"

"I am not casting judgements, I am stating facts." Izuku did not give pause for the Villain to reply. "You know I'm right, so just **admit it and let him go.** " Izuku's plan hinged on two assumptions: first, his power could work on any human being, no matter the quirk; second, he could control exactly when he triggered his power, to the point where he could activate it mid-sentence. His assumptions were rewarded with a positive outcome.

With a red aura surrounding his eyes, the slime Villain set his friend down and acknowledged the rest of his request. "Yes, yes, I suppose you're right." Then, the red aura faded from his eyes, and the Villain reacted in kind. "Wait, what? What the hell? Why did I--wait, you get back here, you little runt!" The Villain started to chase after his planned exit ticket (more of an exit body, in this case), but didn't get very far thanks to the intervention of one Hero.

"Never fear, for I am here!" The new player, seeing as he was at the top of the scoreboard when it came to the game of Heroes, consequently cause the Villain to lose all sense of structural integrity and fall to pieces through the use of various limbs, mainly his fists. Normally, from what Izuku gathered, All Might generally posed for the audience, gave a nice speech for the reporters, and cheered up the victims. This time, he did something different. He walked up to Izuku Midoriya, and fulfilled his dream in two sentences.

"Young boy, you went above and beyond, displaying courage and managing to calm down a Villain without having to resort to physical strength. What's your name, boy?" 

"I-Izuku, sir. Izuku Midoriya."

"Tell me, are you planning to apply to U.A.?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Good, I highly encourage you to do so!" Most people in life consider it their peak to have gotten an autograph from their favorite athlete or celebrity. Out of those, only a handful can ever say they were given praise from them. Izuku Midoriya just became one of them. His first emotion was that of tears of joy, followed by determination, followed by fear and sorrow as he remembered who was standing in front of them: Katsuki Bakugou, the boy who's dream in life was to be the strongest hero. When Izuku turned to face him, only two emotions could be read, that of anger, and that of rejection. The boy without a Quirk got acknowledged by the man with the strongest Quirk. However, All Might did not see those emotions, but rather an entirely different set of feelings. "Ah, I see I'm keeping you from your friend. No problem, continue with your day. Plus Ultra!" As All Might flew away, Izuku gulped, and turned to face his fears.

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou always considered himself to be the pinnacle of power. No one ever stood above him, least of all the little runt in front of him. So, why was he so... ignored by everyone else? Why was all the attention focused on the Quirkless freak in front of him? As if reacting on his thought, said freak turned to face him.

"Kacchan, I-I need your help. Can we t-talk?"

Clearly, the boy still felt fear in face of him. Good. He gave a quick show of fists along with his reply. "Yes, you do. So, let's talk, Deku."

"N-N-Not here, please."

"Alright, then. Let's go." Bakugou grabbed him by the arm and dragged him off. A devilish grin appeared on his face as he came up with the perfect place to have their little chat.

Two swingsets, three slides, some monkey bars, and a climbable net. Deku ought to remember this well. After all, Bakugou taught him a life lesson here ten years ago. So, he swung Deku out to the side, and said one word.

"Talk."

"K-K-Kacchan, I-I-..." Izuku shook his head, and gave his next words conviction, the likes of which Bakugou had never heard before. "I have a Quirk now!"

 _Now? Now! What the fuck?_ Kacchan hated to be treated like an idiot, so to be told that someone developed a Quirk a decade after most others and expected to believe it infuriated him. "What the fuck you do you mean, 'I developed a Quirk'? Don't feed me bullshit!" Bakugou reached to slug the kid.

"Wait, I didn't develop it! It was given to me!" At that, Kacchan stopped dead in his tracks, curiosity piquing his interest.

"How was it 'given' to you?"

"I-I don't know. I was attacked by these two guys in an alley, and this girl shows up, and says that she would give me power in exchange for a wish!"

 _What the fuck is this kid saying? Did he make a deal with the damn devil or something?_ "What exactly was her wish?"

That gave Izuku pause. "I don't know. She-she..." Deku's face went as green as his hair and he struggled to hold back vomit. "She d-di-" Izuku lurched over and let his stomach empty himself into the grass nearby.

Bakugou took a moment to be disgusted at the event. However, given the visible distress at the event and the fact that the kid basically never lied to him, he continuing with his probing. "All right, I'll bite. What exactly is this 'power' of yours?"

"I-I think it makes you do whatever I say."

His next words were about to be 'show me,' but then he thought of the implications. So, the question was, how could he verify that Izuku wasn't feeding him bullshit? An idea and a use for one of his old cronies came to mind. "Stay here, I'll be right back with a friend."

* * *

Izuku generally saw himself as a patient man, as dealing with Kacchan's antics required it. This time, Izuku threatened to turn into a ball and go Sonic on the playground around him. However, all good things come to and end, and so did Izuku's anxiousness as Kacchan returned with another. Another whom Izuku recognized. _Brave the fear, brave the fear..._

"Deku." That caught his attention at once.

"Y-Yes?"

"See my friend here? Make him dance for, oh, 10 seconds."

"W-What? I could neve-"

"Make. Him. Dance."

Izuku gulped, and faced his friend, and activated his power. " **Dance for 10 seconds.** "

With a red aura surrounding his eyes, the boy did a strange version of the _Macarena_ for 10 seconds, then abruptly stopped. "What just happened?"

Kacchan then gave his next command. "Do it again."

"Why? T-That's just-"

"Do I need to repeat myself? Make him dance for 10 seconds. Again."

So, Izuku fired up his power and looked at the boy again. " **Dance for 10 seconds.** "

And the boy just stared, confused. "Is that what's supposed to happen? I didn't feel anything."

"Why didn't it work? **Dance for 10 seconds!** "

"Kid, if you're just fucking with me, I swear..."

Kacchan moved to intervene. "Interesting. Try a different command. Tell him to slap me."

Izuku hesitated, yet complied. " **Slap Bakugou.** "

The kid, once again, did nothing. "Can I punch him now?"

"No. So, Deku, it seems like your new Quirk has limitations. Even without them, you still wouldn't have a chance in hell of touching me. Now, get lost."

As Izuku Midoriya started heading back to his house, he could swear he saw the slightest hint of fear on the white-haired boy's face.

* * *

Two men found themselves free from jail, courtesy of HQ. Yet, they were still in cuffs as they entered the office. Leader had questions for them. But first, he was a man of courtesy, and uncuffed and shook their hands before opening with his questions.

"So, tell me how you were unable to escort one unconscious girl."

"Sir, you didn't tell us she would be so strong. We used horse tranquilizer on her, and that seemed to hardly have an effect!"

"That couldn't have been it. What else happened?"

"This kid came upon us while we were doing the drop. When we tried to get rid of the witness, fucker launched out of the body bag and tackled him down before I could get a shot at her." He gestured to his partner. "I resumed my business, then that girl still somehow had enough consciousness to grab his hand and do _something_. Next thing I know, we were locked up." The men knew it was not their place to ask who the girl was, and held their tongue.

"Interesting, so she made her move. Can you describe the boy, at least?"

And so, they did. Teen, green spiky hair, and a few freckles on the sides. Leader thanked them, and walked out to attend to his other business. After all, he was not the one responsible for the disposing of loose ends.

* * *

Izuku had enough moving around for the day. He was already over with running hours ago, which is why he opted to simply walk home and open the door to his house unceremoniously.

"Izuku, you have someone waiting for you. She said something about 'a promise about the future,' I think! I can't believe my son got a girlfriend!"

Izuku still had the energy to blush at the implications. "W-What? A g-g-girlfriend! There's no way!" Izuku followed his mother into the kitchen. There, red turned to white as he saw the girl in question. Green hair, with a crane embroidered on her forehead.

"I've been waiting for you, Izuku. Or, do you prefer 'Deku?'"


	3. The First Meeting

_Izuku Midoriya._ The pinnacle of physical strength could not get out of his mind the image of a boy who had none. The way he dealt with that villain, he had not seen it done in a very long time, not since... Regardless, Toshinori Yagi doubted the boy's lack of strength, for, though he had no proof, he felt power in those words. Power unlike anything he had before.

But, those were thoughts of another time. At the current moment was the dispatching of another petty villain and the rescue of another damsel in distress, on top of dealing with all the paparazzi that followed. And yet, All Might put up with it, as he knew his place in society. The words "a leader must make sacrifices for his men" are ones he took to heart.

The man was failing on one front, however. His new office at UA was so clean and shiny that it could be considered downright barren--no, empty even. That's because it was. And the school year was starting in one month. Go figure.

* * *

# Stage 3: The First Meeting

Izuku Midoriya stood face-to-face with a dead woman. However, he knew dead women can't talk, and she wasn't a ghost (that teacup in her hand sure looked real), so maybe-

"Do you need to keep on staring for so long? If you want to see more, you need just ask."

White would have turned back to red, but, considering his mother was still in the room and (likely) understood the implication, white remained white. "W-W-What are you talking about? Who are you?"

"You made a promise about our future, and you can't even remember my name? What a shame."

"Y-You never told me!"

"Fine, I'll remind you just this once. It's C.C."

_Yeah, sure. 'Remind.'_ "C.C.? Are those... initials?"

"No, that's my name. What, is there something wrong with it?"

"N-No, that's not what I was s-saying!"

C.C. set her teacup down with a look of boredom on her face. "Can we talk somewhere more..." she took careful measure to emphasize the next word, "private?"

White slowly started to burn red, as Izuku forgot about his previous concerns. (It didn't really matter either way as his mother already slipped out of the house upon realizing that she might not be the best person to help with issues of the romantic type.) "W-W-Why?"

"Just want to talk, and I'm sure you have at least one question you want to ask me."

Whoever this woman was, she could read him like a book. "O-O-Okay, but just talking!"

And off they set towards Izuku's bedroom, whereupon CC promptly shut the door and crashed down on his bed. "So, do you like the new power I gave you?"

"What is it?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I had no powers before, so of course!"

"Are you telling me my gift is only better than nothing at all?"

"No no no, that's not what I was saying! I was just saying that, while my new Quirk is great, anything would've been better than no power."

"Ah, 'Quirk,' almost forgot the new lingo. Your new power isn't a Quirk. I-"

"W-What is it, then?"

"I was just about to tell you before you so rudely interrupted me." She continued over the meep of a quiet 'sorry.' "What you have been given is Geass, the Power of the King."

"W-What's different between it and a Quirk?"

"Basically, it predates the Quirk by millennia. Rather than being naturally born, it must be granted by a Codebearer."

"W-W-Wait, so you can just give this to anyone?"

"Yes." C.C. did not like where this conversation was headed.

"So, then, why'd you choose me?"

"Simple: you seemed like the kind of person who could've used a helping hand right about then. Plus, either that or they'd have finished the job for sure." She was glad to be wrong at her initial guess of his words.

Izuku paled at the mention of _them_. "Who were they?"

"Hell if I know. Don't really care, anyway."

"How can you not care?"

"People have been trying to figure out my secrets for most of my life. You think a couple more years is going to affect me?"

Izuku noticed a somber tone in her words despite her general attitude, so he decided to not push the subject. He couldn't push any other subject, either, due to a knock on his door. "I'll be right back, promise!"

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou was not a patient man, regardless of pretense. The only person he ever willingly waited for is no longer part of his life, anyway. Suffice it to say he did not like having to wait roughly 10 seconds for Deku to open the door. Inko only usually took about 5, but she was nowhere to be seen. "What took you so long?"

"I-I was jus-"

"Doesn't matter, we're leaving." He grabbed Izuku's arm and started walking towards the street.

"W-Where are we going?"

"A gang moved in about an hour ago from a nearby district, and they've been causing trouble for some of the road workers nearby. You're going to help me get rid of them."

"That would be vigilante work! I can't do such a th-"

"You will, or your mother is going to find out about your new power. You wouldn't want _that_ , now, would you?"

Deku gave a silent nod.

"Good." The walk turned into a run. "Now, there are 5 total that we have to deal with. The group has so far been unchallenged by the civil patrol 'cause one of them seems to have a teleportation Quirk, and can quickly kidnap people without a trace to allow his friends to do the rest of the mugging in a protected space. However, he doesn't attack more than one person every two hours, so his power must have some sort of time limit. The game plan is simple: I'm going to scout out their base while you wait here. Then, I'm going to come back, tell you where he is, and you start approaching. I'm going to go the other way and bait the teleportation guy into taking me. Once he does," he locked with Deku's eyes, "use your Quirk on all of them at once."

"W-What about the others? You said there were five, right?"

"They won't matter if you can activate yours quickly enough." What he neglected to tell him was that one of the others has a immobilization Quirk (effectively freezing anyone in their tracks), and another could nullify the effects of any Quirk up to an observed full minute. There was a reason they were generally left alone.

Bakugou's gamble was simple: Deku's power didn't play by standard Quirk rules. He couldn't put his finger on it, but he knew. Now, it was time to be sure.

* * *

The street corner didn't have much in terms of entertainment, so Izuku had to resort to his phone. It was a rather basic video game, involving solving a set of curves that needed to be rotated to form one continuous loop. As he clicked to move a piece at the top right of his screen, his eyes drew to a number that was lower than what it should be. 23%. Shit. He set his phone back into his pocket and started to doodle random figures. Minutes turned into more minutes and Izuku's worrying turned into more worrying. At this point, he had started to form his own plans for rescuing Kacchan with the limited information he had, all while damning him for not giving him all the information from the get-go. He knew exactly what Kacchan was doing, and was seriously starting to get annoyed at his inability to get off his high horse. Regardless, he's still his friend. And what are friends for, if not to save each other from certain death? (Actually, a lot of other things, but Izuku knew better than to dwell on the obvious.)

He currently had two strategies planned. The first was the obvious of calling the police, the second involved him using the 'Find Your Friend' feature most new smartphones had (while highly debated, the feature still retained generally favorable public opinion despite such a blatant intrusion of privacy as it offered some degree of security and protection in this Villain-overrun world) and trying to take them all on by himself with his new power. Only one of those two strategies was functionally viable, and he knew it. Problem was, he was just one guy. He needed more people with more experience than he did if he wanted to stand a chance of saving the day unscathed. But, maybe if he were to-

"Deku!"

Izuku's brain started to take note of the environment again, in particular an annoyed spiky-haired boy. "Y-Yes?"

"I've called you three times! Are you fucking deaf or something?"

_Sorry, I was just thinking of a way to get you out of whatever mess you got yourself in._ Of course, Izuku knew better than to say such a thing out loud, so he shortened it. "N-No, sorry. I was just thinking."

"Well, how about you think about your task, huh? Straight in, then your second left, your third right, a left, then another right. Once you get there, there's a dumpster nearby right around the corner. You should see it immediately upon approaching. Hide behind it while you wait for me to get there."

Izuku reached for his pen and pad, reciting the instructions. "Second left, third... um..."

"You know what? Here, then I won't have to repeat myself." Kacchan thrust a piece of paper into Izuku's hand, who, upon unfolding, found himself pleasantly surprised by the contents.

_What do you know? He actually does care._ "T-Thanks, Kacchan!"

"Don't ever mention it. Now, get moving!" And so he did, navigating one alley after another, until he finally got to his destination: some random dumpster in an alley in the middle of nowhere. Two things dawned on him: first, if he gets caught out here, he's completely and utterly screwed; two, this place _reeked_. The entire alley smelled worse than the main dumpster at their middle school, not to mention the one Izuku was hiding behind currently. Tears threatened to form in his eyes, but he dashed them away quickly and silently. He considered taking his phone out to take his mind off of the stink, then realized that giving himself a distraction in his situation was one of the stupidest things imaginable. So, he fashioned a mask of sorts from a spare tissue in his pocket and braved the smell that remained.

Seconds turned into minutes turned into hours. Actually, he wasn't even sure of his own perception of time anymore, given all the stress he was in. Then, noise.

"Well, well, look what we have here. Felt like trying to take us all down on your own, kiddo?" An unfamiliar voice.

"Damn right, and you're going to do shit about it." That voice was certainly familiar.

"Oh, really, now? Well, looks like it's our duty to teach you a lesson about showing up to strange alleys on your own."

"What makes you think I'm alone?" Izuku swore he could almost hear his smirk. All that was left to do now is complete the mission.

So, he got up quickly and silently, ready to make his move. He already had a command prepared, and all he had left to do was say it. And yet, hesitation can come from anywhere. In this case, it came from Izuku second-guessing his morals. He was taking away the fundamental right of free will from people. He had already done it twice, but should he be willing to do it again to five others?

"Deku, what the fuck!" Then, Izuku remembered. Someone was depending on him. He knew what he had to do. Right now was his time to shine. The boy who was ready to shine like a star instead found himself seeing stars. He was frozen still and forced to watch as someone tackled him right back down to the ground, followed by a kick to the stomach for good measure.

"Oh, so another one showed up to the teaching? Don't worry, we can accomodate. Truth be told, kid, your plan seemed to have been well thought out, but your friend here decided to hesitate. You see, we don't tolerate that. We'll make sure you remember this day." The lead Villain turned to his friends. "Take all of their stuff, including their clothes. Leave their boxers, though. We don't want the police coming after us in full force."

"Deku, you useless piece of shit! You had _one_ job!" Izuku tried to speak, to do anything to save his friend, but no sound came out of his mouth. As two pairs of hands grabbed him, the only thing he could do was feel powerless. _Powerless._ It was just like ten years ago, with one slight difference: the only person he could blame now was himself. He could do nothing but watch as their dignity and pride get stripped away from them.

Screams filled the air. Screams not of his own or of Kacchan, but of those who had captured them. "What the fuck? Al, freeze her!"

"I tried, it's not working! Wait-wait-wait-wait-" followed by more screams and crunching of bones, then silence, then a single voice.

"You know, Izuku, it's rude to leave a girl hanging like that. What happened to 'I'll be right back, I promise'?"

* * *

"I only disabled them temporarily. They'll be getting up soon, so I suggest we head out of here." Bakugou struggled to get up on his feet, but was still having an easier time than Deku. At least he hadn't gotten thrashed like Deku did. Like hell he was going to help the boy, and merely waited for him to recover before starting to walk. As they exited the alley, the woman turned back for a second to make sure Deku had caught up before leaving with the rest.

_First name basis? Where'd the hell did he find her?_ Although Bakugou didn't have any problems with getting dates, he generally hated most of his proposers as they only cared about his Quirk, so seeing a Quirkless freak getting that close to any girl irked him. He noted, however, that the woman seemed to be older than Deku by at least 4-5 years, and he doubted the kid had such... off-kilter... interests. Still, a good tease can be enjoyable at times. When delivered properly, of course. "Hey, Deku, did you really need to call your girlfriend to get you out of this mess?" Tease turned to anger. "Also, what the fuck was with you back there? You had them all cornered, and you threw that advantage away! What the fuck, dude?"

"G-G-Girlfriend?" Deku finally turned to look at their savior. "Ah! C.C.! I'm so sorry! I didn't think it would take so long. I had only planned to open the door. Please forgive me!" Deku turned to him. "And she's not my g-girlfriend!"

Unfortunately for Deku, the woman had complaints to be heard. "That, Izuku, is something I am okay with. What I will not forgive you for is running headfirst into danger completely unprepared. I thought you were smarter than that." There was special pleasure to be had from seeing Deku get completely shut down by this woman, girlfriend or not.

"But I wasn't unprepared-"

"Yes, you were, and you know it. That does not count."

Over the continued bickering of the pair, dots started to connect in Bakugou's mind and one question remained. "Miss C.C., or whatever your name is, are you the one that gave Izuku his power?"

The woman stopped mid-sentence and started a new one, still aimed at Deku. "So, you told someone else? Most of my previous contractors would never even consider doing such a thing." Now, aimed at Bakugou. "Yes, I did. Do you have a problem with that?"

He seriously considered asking her if she could do the same for him, except it was stupid one to ask. And yet, a question remained. "Why did you choose to give him the power? What did he do to deserve it?"

"You know, your friend asked me the exact same thing. In all honesty, nothing. It might've been sympathy for him, I guess, seeing how he was already dead to rights from birth. It might've been because I saw potential. Or, it could've been that I was curious and bored after not having made a single one in over a hundred years." After a quick glance at Deku's now sullen face and a chuckle, she continued. "Now, I do have a question for you: why haven't you asked me to give you a power?"

"I don't need another power freely handed to me. It wouldn't mean anything that way. I'm going to get to the top with the power I worked for. Not even little Deku can stop me. You hear me, runt? I will always be better than you!"

"Good, because I can't grant anything to people that already have Quirks anyway." C.C. turned to face Deku. "Are you just going to take that lying down?"

"N-No. Kacchan can try to be the best, but I will, too! I just... I just don't know-"

"Don't know what, hmm? How to be the best?"

"Y-Yes, but-"

"But what? The only question you need to ask yourself is whether you are content with who you are now. So, are you?"

"N-No, but-"

"Okay. So, what are you going to do about it?"

"I need to get stronger, which means I need to train, but to do that-" Deku stopped and turned to face Bakugou. His face, resolute; his resolve, absolute. "Kacchan, can we do more of this? Fighting small gangs, I mean."

Bakugou took a few seconds to pretend to ponder before replying. "I don't know. You gonna freeze up again like a fucking idiot?"

"Hey, I didn't mean to! You didn't even tell me who I was up against!"

"Fine, but you better not be retarded this time." Despite his complaints, and for the first time in a very long while, he felt the ends of his lips curl upwards. Maybe there was some hope for this freak yet. Maybe Katsuki Bakugou might actually have a challenge on his hands.

* * *

All Might heroically smashed the door to the meeting room, receiving a groan from everyone else present. One of them muttered about the amount of doors they have had to replace so far. The residing president merely sighed.

Said president, Nedzu, began speaking. "As we are all now here, the first U.A. meeting of the year shall now commence. Today's topic will be the entrance examination. Aizawa will be handling our meeting minutes, and we will go around the table discussing ideas for improving on last year's exam. Yamada, please begin."

Toshinori Yagi should have probably read the agenda before showing up to the meeting, and didn't have much to suggest that those before him wouldn't touch on, anyway. So, he listened, and thought. Yamada suggested giving the zero pointers some value, and was shot down immediately for missing the point of them. Aizawa had the idea of setting up a small skirmish dividing the applicants into two teams according to their powers, and having the winning team go on to the main test. While they all acknowledged the cost-cutting that such a system would provide, most (especially those who played any sort of team-based video games) were against it as it introduced unpredictability that should not be part of a fair test. Ishiyama by far had the most interesting idea of implementing a rescue points system to reward heroic actions done in the exam, and was also the most supported one so far.

Past those three, Yagi lost interest and pushed the rest of the ideas into the background as he tried to come up with his own. The last thing he needed was to completely embarrass himself in the first meeting. Nothing came to mind, and he found himself increasingly annoyed with his own stupidity. After trying for about three minutes, he gave up, accepting his fate, and started thinking about his day in general. He had dealt with five more minor Villains after the slime Villain, and luckily had no any major Villain appearance to fend off today. Speaking of which, he had almost forgot about the boy who did it. The gleam in his eyes when he mentioned applying to U.A. was a gem to behold, and having done that only felt better. Then, he looked at the plans for the exam, then thought of the kid, then thought about the plans again. Then he yelped (and apologized immediately thereafter for the disturbance). With the way the exam only really looked at the strength of applicants, that kid wouldn't stand a chance in hell of getting in. All Might mentally gave himself a pat on the back as he came up with a way to contribute to the meeting, and just in the nick of time to boot.

"All Might, any suggestions?"

"WE NEED TO TEST ELEMENTS OTHER THAN STRENGTH!" He was met with groans and several complaints of not having an 'inside voice.'

* * *

Blonde hair and black eyes tsked. His plan of setting up a faux gang with some of his strongest operators in hopes of luring the the new Geass user worked right up until it didn't. After all, he had no way of knowing the kid was going to lock up before using his power. So, he adjusted his plan and had them move to capture the boy instead. That also failed because the other Codebearing problem decided to show up and ruin his day yet again.

At the end of the day, five of his men were struggling through recovery, and he still had no idea what the contractor's ability was, nor a firm grasp of his identity. Problem was, even with the description of the kid, there are as many similarities as there are variations of appearances as a result of Quirks that it's nearly impossible to pin someone down based on those traits alone. The spotter couldn't get a clear view of his face, either, because the kid was generally hiding, and when he was out in the open, was generally being covered by his agents who seemed to have completely forgotten about staying out of the camera's line of sight. It was also clear that said Codebearer was fully aware of his plans, if her looking at the camera lens dead on before leaving was any indication.

However, no good Leader falters in the face of adversity. Despite his trouble, he learned that the new contractor wasn't good at handling power, and was prone to having to rely on others for help. So, he started coming up with new solutions to his problems. As he thought, he remembered hearing through the underground about a new league planning a debut in a couple of months. That would be a perfect opportunity for him. This time, he would succeed where he had failed. And so, he planned.


	4. Discoveries in the Night

# Stage 4: Discoveries in the Night

In hindsight, Izuku wasn't sure exactly why he was so willing to ask Kacchan to invite him on more vigilante runs, especially considering how vehemently he was against it in the beginning. Unfortunately for him, it was his only real option if he wanted to be battle ready for U.A. trials. His power couldn't be trained like most other strength Quirks, as there was nothing to make stronger; his commands were already absolute. The only thing that could be improved upon, then, is how he applied the Geass. He needed to use it strategically, which meant practice in situations were complex plans could be tested and carried out: the real world. Hence, vigilantism. Their next target was a smaller but still dangerous gang in a nearby town, this time consisting only of one pair. Today found him and Kacchan huddled over a map, planning their next move. The first thing to consider was their actions.

Their targets were consistent: automated teller machines. Several eyewitness reports on the internet described the situation as two small men walking up to a machine as if they were retrieving money from their bank accounts, whereupon one of them would touch the machine for a few brief seconds before money would start flowing out. The gangsters would then take it and seemingly vanish into nowhere. No one thought much of it at first until several more reports came in and the bank noticed various 500,000 yen withdrawals take place within the matter of hours, but with no account tied to the transactions. The bank attempted to freeze the assets within the ATMs and limit them only to immediate owners, but to no avail, as the people could seemingly bypass it as if it were nothing. Civil enforcement was quickly dispatched, but there were not enough personnel to keep a watchful eye over every ATM throughout the city. So, they kept all information under wraps, the only trace left on the internet were the initial reports. As for how Izuku and Kacchan found the rest of the information? One officer, and one command: " **Answer some questions, then forget about us.** " Izuku was initially (very) hesitant to use his power so freely, but there was nothing like an angry Kacchan to change his mind. He took solace in the fact that once he had given the command, he would never be able to again, and they would be free from the clutches of such a dangerous power.

Next were the locations; where the robbers have been, and where they were going. To that end, a map showing all the ATMs that were hit so far and the ones being guarded by law enforcement, courteously shown by that same officer. This also gave Izuku an important realization: his commands were quite literal. After some probing and finding out the officer had a map of the ATMs, Izuku tried asking for it. "Could you please show me the map?"

"Yes." But no map ever came. So, Izuku tried again.

"Could you pull out your map and show it to us?"

"Yes, I could." Again, no map.

"W-Why isn't this working?"

At this point, Kacchan was starting to get annoyed. "I don't fucking know! You're the one with the ultra-Quirk shit, you should know how it works!" Midway through his rant, he quieted upon remembering that they were trying to avoid attention. Then, he paused. "Wait, your command was for only him to answer questions, right?"

"Yes, that and forgetting us after..." A lightbulb went off in Izuku's head. Because the officer _could_ show Izuku the map, the Geass required him to say that he could. However, that was it. It didn't require that he actually showed the map. "O-Oh. Oh!" Turning back to the officer, Izuku improvised. "Where do you have your map?"

"It's on my phone."

"Where is your phone?"

"My left pants pocket." Kacchan swiftly took the phone, and was presented with a lock screen.

"From the lock screen, how do I access the map?"

"Enter the code 35748. Then, click on the 'Alerts' app, scroll 3 cards down, and click the map." He was initially just going to download the entire thing to his phone directly, but Izuku stopped him, citing the possibility of the police monitoring phone activity. Looking at the map would make sense for an officer; downloading it wouldn't. Good ol' fashioned pen and paper would have to suffice, and within an hour he was done. After they got the information and started leaving, Izuku couldn't help but think that he was forgetting something big.

And he most certainly was. " **I am done asking questions.** " _I gotta be more careful._

Now, it was time to analyze the information previously collected. The first thing they noted was distance; every ATM hit was contained within a radius of 15 kilometers. However, the ATMs hit seemed to be clustered around a center region. From there, they were able to create a circle containing all the ATMs that could be hit, and arrived at one conclusion: the gang must have their center of operations around the center of that circle. It was quite obvious, so obvious that even the police were able to gather such a thing. And yet, there was nothing there, no hint of a base or any cash After all, the money has to be going somewhere. There were a few homeless nearby, but they weren't saying anything. Whether that was due to lack of information or some sort of bro code was up for debate. As such, one possible approach was devised to handle the situation.

The next thing to note was that of time; when the ATMs were being hit. There was significant variation, ranging from 20 minutes to 2 hours. And yet, there was still a clue present within that: the gang must wait a minimum of 20 minutes before being able to teleport (seemingly, no one was quite sure how they were leaving the ATMs but that was the best theory anyone had so far). Also, the further ones took more time following the last hit, indicating that longer distances required a larger 'charge time,' so to say. A second approach was devised, then quickly scrapped as it relied too much on luck. So, the pair decided to go with the first option.

* * *

"Sorry, sorry, my bad!" There was a time and place for Deku to daydream. Walking through a back alley surrounded by thugs was not one of those times, least of all when the burden fell on Bakugou to keep him in line and protect him.

 _I'm herding a fucking cat._ Bakugou took solace in the fact that at least he didn't have to herd another minx, too. That woman that was hanging around Izuku was, well, difficult to describe. 'Off-putting' was one of the words coming to mind, but it didn't seem quite right. The way she waved them off reminded him more of a dangerous girlfriend than a mentor figure, although it was strange that she didn't want to go with the two.

Said herding didn't need to last much longer, as they finally arrived at their destination: the epicenter. What they needed was more information, as no conclusive plan could be devised with the current information they had. And what better way to get information than by asking people?

Usually, asking things around in a shifty place ends with a bullet in one's head, so the two decided to take a different route: let their targets come to them. Deku would act sickly and sit down somewhere along the edge, while Bakugou would play the desparate friend and ask for help with Deku in exchange for work. Often, guilt loves to find innocence.

Now, all Bakugou had to do is act innocent. Easier said than done, he noted. It was surprisingly difficult to act like a damsel in distress. If only his pride wouldn't have gotten in the way, then their roles would've been more appropriately switched. Too bad that an off-handed comment from Deku stating Bakugou's inability to act set off his arrogance and his damn _need_ to assert to the world that he can be the best at anything. Of course, lamenting over personal issues won't get anything done. So, he gritted his teeth and marched forward. "Help! I have a sick friend! I'm willing to work! Anything, please!"

Most people just tended to ignore him, but he was eventually able to find one, or rather one hobbled over to him. "Hey, pal. You new around here?"

"Y-Yes. Who are you? Can you help my friend?" Bakugou nearly dropped the act on accident.

"Of course, but first I'd like to know what kind of quirk you have."

"I, uh, I can make sparks with my hands." He let off a very small blast to emphasize, while also trying to look strained as he did it.

"Interesting. What about your friend?"

"Uhh...'' _Fuck._ He hadn't thought this far. But now was not the time to panic, but to take a page from Deku's book. "Cooling! He can cool things."

The middle-aged man before him stayed deep in thought before exclaiming, "Ooh! Is he--or she--able to work too?"

"Y-Yes, but he needs help first. He's gotten a sprained arm and I don't know what to do!" The act was wearing on him. If this needed to go on for much longer, he might just snap.

"Sure, sure! Let's go look at it and I'll figure out a way to make him all good and healthy again, promise!" He and Bakugou started walking. "Young boy, I don't think I got your name."

That was a question that demanded an answer. "Uhh... Kachi."

"A nice name. So, your pal, how did he get hurt?"

"We... we were playing soccer, and he tripped and hit a pipe. That idiot!" Bakugou meant that last part.

The old man gave a slight chuckle. "That was all I used to do when I was your age. God, I can't even remember the amount of times I got hurt playing that game." Their walk found them at their destination: Deku.

"H-Hi." At least, for Deku, timidness wasn't an act.

The old man continued his pretense of friendliness. "So, you're the young lass this gentleman was talking about. Well, how did you get hurt?"

Deku grimaced a bit at being called a girl (which Bakugou took great pleasure in). "I-I'm a boy, you know, and..." A deep breath, hesitation apparent in every inch of his face. _Stick to the script, you fucking moron._ " **Meet with us at the address given this piece of paper in an hour and follow our instructions. Also, forget that we requested anything from you prior to this command.** "

A perfect delivery. Surprisingly.

* * *

Izuku always had a natural talent for pacing. It tended to be the only thing he could do while he was waiting for other important people to do important things. Namely for their informant to show up. They always say hindsight is 20/20, and Izuku couldn't agree more as, when looking through those eyes, he could clearly see text that spoke, _words do not describe how stupid you are, not only for agreeing to this, but for suggesting it!_

A hobble, a hobble, and another hobble. Their guest had arrived. "Reporting as requested."

Too late to turn back now, the only choice Izuku had was to go through with the entire plan. "First, I would like to ask some questions."

"Alright." OK, so his command stayed.

"Do you know who the people currently raiding local ATMs for money are?"

"Yes."

"Who are they and what kind of powers to they have?"

"The first is a lad called Akio. His Quirk is the ability to do charged teleportation from anywhere he has walked to the same focal point. The second goes by Kichiro. He can figure out any 4-digit combination. Akio was born of a c-section, as his-"

A third voice made itself known. "Stop! I don't want to hear their fucking biographies! Just tell me how they do the robberies!" Izuku scowled at Kacchan, all the while being grateful for no longer having to listen to a story that would probably end with his stomach contents outside of his stomach.

"No problem, chill. All we do is wait for them at that point, and they give the money to who needs it most."

Izuku took the reins again. "Alright, so, what is the drop off point?"

"An alley off Haneka Road, connecting to the one you found us from."

"Could you draw it on a map?"

"Yeah, I can."

Izuku handed over a pen and pad, and nothing happened. _Crap, I worded that wrong._ "Draw it on the paper using the pen I gave you." After a while, the middle-aged man gave something... largely incomprehensible, at least to Izuku, anyway. There were a bunch of roads that branch off the alley that made the entire thing a mess, and the X that marked the spot only served to confuse things more.

Kacchan must have clearly noticed his confusion, and decided to take the map out of Izuku's hands to have a look. He made a series of interesting gestures with his right hand, and said, "got it. It's a little complicated to traverse, but I can guide us there. No wonder the police didn't find it, 'cause I can hardly get my head around this damn shit myself. Like, you gotta..."

HIs voice moved to the background of Izuku's mind, and an alarm moved to the foreground. "Wait, we're going there?"

"No shit, dipshit! That's what we came here to do! Don't act surprised. We packed for a stakeout, right?"

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou was not a patient man, regardless of pretense. In fact, he went so far as to make it a point never to wait for anything or anyone. How ironic it was, then, that the greatest achievement he had ever gotten his hands on required waiting for an inordinate amount of time. He had been there for what must've been an hour, and nothing had changed. He glanced at his watch.

8:45 PM. Barely even 20 minutes. He tsked at the thought. So, he started pacing. He looked at his left, then his right, then his left again. Someone had caught his attention. Deku had gone daydreaming again, but he seemed to have a burning question on his mind, one that he just didn't seem to want to ask. But Deku wasn't the kind of person to hold back questions. In all the times Deku has done that, Bakugou noted, the questions he held back were often the most important ones to ask. So, Bakugou gave him a push. "What is it?"

"W-What?"

"You have a question on your mind, right? Speak it."

Deku fidgeted for a bit and swallowed. "What do you think of--of C.C.?"

"Your girlfriend? Why the fuck are you asking me for relationship advice?" Bakugou's annoyance was evident.

But Deku continued anyway. "You know what I mean! Wasn't she a little bit pushy earlier about going with us? I just wanted to know your opinion of her. Besides, I wouldn't go to you for _that_ kind of advice."

"I don't know yet. I'd never heard of her, or seen anything like this 'Geass' thing." Then, Katsuki thought about the rest of what Deku said. "AND WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN BY, 'I can't give that kind of advice?' YOU THINK I CAN'T GET A GIRLFRIEND, YOU-"

Air swirling, a fog growing dense close by. Activity. The duo immediately stopped their banter and paid attention. The fog shrunk in size, yet grew brighter at the same time, until it was a single point. Then, it went everywhere in an explosion of light. The only thing left behind were two.

One of them started speaking. "D-Did you hold on to the bag?"

"Y-Yeah, I held on. You see, here, you can count! I'm sure big bros will be happy with this! They'll certainly give us double rations for sure!"

They had several cuts over their body, notably their face. Their jackets were in tatters. They barely had enough food, if their sunken chests were of any indication. But that wasn't the first thing Bakugou noted. The two boys before them couldn't have possibly been older than ten. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Deku, what the hell is this? Why are they kids?"

"I-I don't know! How could I know?"

"What, you want me to find out? You're the one with the magic power bullshit!"

* * *

Izuku could not say that he didn't like hanging around with kids. But he also couldn't say that he went out of his way to do it. He also didn't have any similar familial experiences with such a thing, seeing as he had no brothers or sisters. But, compared to Kacchan, he had a significantly higher chance of being able to talk to these children without having to rely on higher powers.

The boys seemed to notice them first, and they seemed to react on instinct, the older getting in front of the other towards the danger they observed. "Akki! Stay behind!" The boy in front turned to face Izuku and Kacchan. "Who are you? Are you here to take us again?"

 _Again?_ Izuku's demeanor faltered. "U-Um, I'm just a school kid." The boy in front, who Izuku guessed was Kichiro, seemed to relax, if only slightly. Izuku mustered some courage, and continued. "A-Are you two the ones who have been taking money?"

Kichiro tensed up again. "Are you going to take it? Please don't! We need it! If we don't give any money to big bros, we won't have any to eat!" He lunged at the two with a knife he pulled out without them noticing.

Izuku reacted on instinct. "We aren't going to hurt you, promise!" No change, and Kacchan was releasing sparks from his right hand. Izuku gritted his teeth, and let his desire to live win out. " **Trust us!** "

Red fell upon an innocent once more.

"O-Ok, you seem like good guys. Like big bros!" Kichiro stopped shielding the other boy (who Izuku preseumed was Akio) and made a few hand gestures to him. The smaller boy responded in kind, and poked his head out from behind Kichiro's back. The face was significantly smaller than the first.

Based on his observations, Izuku conluded two things. One, the smaller boy was maybe seven or eight years old. Two, he could not hear. In fact, he was completely missing ears. Instead, the skin was just formed smoothly over, with the disfiguration nearly completely covered by his hair (Izuku only saw it because looking for it). "Do you kids have parents? Where is your mom and dad?"

Kichiro spoke up. "I never saw dada. Big bros always used to tell me he was away getting us food, but then they just didn't tell us. Momma... momma..." A tear shed from one eye. "Momma loved us so very much, but then _he_ took her away from us!" He fingered at Akio, who simply smiled and laughed. "We went to the hospital 'cause momma said I was gonna have a little bro, but they told us to go home 'cause we had no moneys to give! Then... then..." He couldn't talk any more. Tears broke out in full force.

Izuku was at a loss, his eyes wide, dry, and filled with terror. He remembered being taught in class about the duties of a doctor, and how they always put others' lives above their own. If this is why the boys were stealing money, if they were doing this because they couldn't pay to save their mother to begin with, then... was this the true nature of people? He wanted to believe that wasn't true, but the broken boy in front of him was telling him otherwise. And yet, in spite of... no, that was wrong. _Because_ of what these boys went through, Izuku became determined to help them. And right now, they needed love. And so, he gave Kichiro a hug, and a whisper. "Don't worry, Kichiro. There will come a time when you will be able to truly enjoy life. We'll make sure of it." He turned towards Kacchan, and fumes greeted his eyes.

Katsuki was full of anger, of resentment, and he made it vocal. "So, you're telling me, that people just _let_ your mother die? Who the fuck... those bastards!" Kichiro turned towards the sounds and started panicking again. Izuku glared at Kacchan, who retorted right back. "Why the fuck are you looking at me like that, I got a damn good reason to be mad and you know it!"

"Stop it, you're scaring Kichiro!"

Kacchan, slowly but surely, started to calm down. Deep breaths in, deep breaths out. The fumes started to wisp away, leaving slightly tinged clothes behind. Inwardly, Izuku cringed at the thought of Kacchan having to explain this to his mother. But that was a problem for another time. "So, who do you live with now?"

"With us. And we can also finish the story of what happened to that boy you were talking to, if you can handle it."

* * *

Bakugou flipped around at the new noise, flames at the ready. In response, the ground shook, and he got flipped to his feet. Now that he was aware of the threat, he took a few seconds to analyze it.

There were 4 people present. All of them had various handheld weapons, but no firearms. Unfortunately, that gave no indication of what their quirks are. He heard the youngest of the boys they had captured, Akio, laughing and jumping to meet them. The other one quickly rushed along, though in a much more subdued manner. Deku was also in a state of thought, but about something else.

That thought made itself known to the world. "So, you're willing to tell us what happened to Kichiro and Akio? Why?"

The second smallest of the four, a woman, responded. "You seem like stupid kids that think everything can be fixed with sunshine and happiness. So, I figured, why not show you what the real world is like?"

Bakugou moved with a start. "You think you're better than me 'cause you're older!" He propelled himself upwards with a few well-placed blasts. "I'll show you! I'll show all of you!" The ground started to shake again (still without indication of who was causing it), but he already got what he was looking for: a rock. He held it in one hand and prepared a blast in the other. They made mechanical guns illegal, but not human ones.

"Kacchan! Stop! Please!"

"Why should I? They think we're worthless little grunts!" The blast started to grow.

"Just please! I want to hear more!" Bakugou looked at Deku, and what he saw gave him his answer: a look of determination completely overpowering his fear. This is what Deku wanted. He wanted to understand.

 _Of course he did._ Bakugou dropped the rock, let the flames dissipate into the air, and turned to face their visitors. "So, then. Speak."

The woman scoffed at Kacchan who growled in response. She then refocused on her primary target, Deku, with eyes registering one emotion: determination. "Kichiro and Akio's mother was a truly kind and good person who made a few mistakes in the past that caused her to end up stuck with our little gang o' fun. There, she met one of our old guys, Yuuta. Love at first sight and all that jazz, the usual. Of course, one of the first things they do is completely forget what kind of place they live in, and a few months later, Kichiro was born. Luck seemed to hit them at the same time, too, as Yuuta managed to find a job at a local gear factory that could make perfect use of his Quirk of making things rotate. It was grueling, with twenty-hour a day weeks, but he was determined to do whatever was necessary to make sure Kichiro and Satori could have a good life." She chuckled for a moment at her oversight. "Heh. I just realized I hadn't mentioned her name until now. Her name was Satori." The next chuckle had a slight dampness associated with it. "For three years, this went on, Satori taking care of Kichiro and Yuuta coming to visit in the few off days he had each month. Then, one day, an accident happened. A gearbox Yuuta was testing had a slight malformation in one of the axles. The entire assembly came unhinged and flew right towards his face. He was killed instantly, and the only way Satori found out was through a damn letter from the factory." Sadness morphed to anger. "Yuuta's life wasn't even worth bothering to actually send someone, that's how low they think of us!"

Deku tried to interrupt with a question, but Bakugou silenced him and gestured to let her finish talking.

"And when Satori found out, the first thing she did was come crying at me holding up a pregnancy test. Turns out Yuuta had knocked her up last time he was here, and now he wouldn't even be able to see his second kid smile!" Anger to frustration, and back to sadness. "So, I did what any good friend would do, and took care of her for the next 9 months. And when her water broke, we took her to the hospital to get treated."

Kacchan remembered something Kichiro mentioned earlier, and connected it to what this lady in front of him was saying now. His eyes went wide at the realization.

"They checked her in, and started to prepare for her baby. Then, something came up, something about Satori not being valid to their system. So, they stopped preparing and told us to leave. The entire time, Satori is wailing in pain. And they told us to leave. They told us to leave! They told us to leave! They told us to leave!" One of the other guys started to rub her back and comfort her, and she slowly started to calm down. "So, at that point, Kitsu here starts throwin' a fit, which only ends up getting the cops on our asses. Funny enough, they ended up being our free ride back to this dump, 'cause I don't think any one of us coulda carried her back. I realized that the baby was still gonna come regardless of whether we were at the hospital or not, so I start preparing. Towels, gloves, the whole nine yards. Satori then starts pushing and trying to get the baby out, but, it just wouldn't budge! No matter how hard she tried, it's like the baby was just stuck in there! All that time Satori was just screaming louder and louder, until she just begged me, 'Make the pain stop! Make the pain stop! Please, anything!' So, then, so, then..." The woman couldn't speak anymore, collapsing into the arms of the man who was comforting her earlier.

At this point, that man, Kitsu, spoke up. "She always ends up a mess when she gets to this part, poor Takako. You know, I'll probably end up the same way if I try to tell you, so let me show you." He made a few sign gestures to Akio, who responded by pulling out a knife. It had clearly gone through quite a bit, and was slightly rusted at the end. All in all, it was not a very practical knife to use.

Which begged the question, "Why are you showing us this?" Of course, Deku was the one to ask first.

"Wait a bit. You'll see." Kitsu signed again to Akio, who responded with his own set of signs. Kitsu replied with a few more, this time pointing to Bakugou and Izuku. Akio made the same gestures he had made earlier towards the duo, and turned back towards Kitsu, who was shaking his head. He modified his earlier signs, putting emphasis on his mouth this time. This time, Kitsu turned away.

Akio turned again with a grin stretched across his face and triumphantly stuck his knife up to cut the air. "They got mi out a' maama with thith!" A shout. Tears fell down, yet the smile remained. "Thith let mi out a' maamaaa!" Even as his older brother pinned him to the ground and hurtled fists at him, he shouted.

Bakugou gasped. Deku gagged.


	5. Fight for the Ages

A woman found herself waiting for a man, yet she did not mind, for she had always been waiting on someone. Yet, when the man finally arrived, he did not come alone. There was another, one she loosely recognized and liked to have even less association with.

They reacted immediately to her sight, one with the shifting of eyes, and the other with the shifting of feet.

"So, did you guys have fun?" She added a smile and a wink to the end of that statement for extra effect.

The wrong person responded to her taunts. "What do you want? Actually, why the fuck are you still here? You didn't even want to help us."

"You're the one who's ranting off about how smart you are, so, tell me, why would I not want to help you?"

"I don't give a shit, so beat it."

"Are you admitting defeat?"

"Yes! Whatever! I don't care!"

While she was the first to notice an oddity, C.C. was not the first to react. "Kacchan?" Her pupil was, for some god-awful reason, actually showing _concern_ for the boy who spent his life destroying the other's.

"You know what? I'm fucking--I'm done. I can't deal..." The tormenter of old stalked off into the night.

The two left behind could only make out silhouettes in the moonlight, but that was more than enough. "What..." The pupil sighed. "Why didn't you help us, then?"

"I wanted you to see for yourself what villainy in the real world looks like. So, what do you think of this world now?"

"Cool, I guess." Eyes shifted down. "Look, I'm sorry, but I... I can't do this right now, either. I'm sorry." And so, the pupil left, leaving just one behind.

That one stayed in place. _I guess I pushed it too far, then. I probably shouldn't have suggested such an extreme place._ She wrapped her hands around her for warmth. Lips quivered, and feet shifted forward.

And then there were none.

* * *

# Stage 5: Fight for the Ages

"Be safe, honey!"

"This is an easy win for you, ya hear? Go out and knock their socks off!"

She shrugged off the voices of encouragement and focused on her bike. She spent the past month planning a strategy of dealing with nearly every kind of opponent present in the games. There wasn't any sort of direct fighting with other people, so the bots present on the field were the only thing she needed to account for. That left her with nothing to worry about anymore.

_Nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about!_ Needless to say, she was failing. So hard, in fact, that she almost forgot about the gap. 

She usually didn't need to pay attention to it, as she always went over it on the way to school (as part of a shortcut she discovered shortly after starting). Generally, for most people, going over a dilapidated bridge over a rushing creek with a bicycle was never a good idea, but she had a quirk for that. A quirk that would have been useless if she didn't care to activate it.

In the midst of her worrying about the exam, she gave a quick glance to the road, and realized that she was a lot further along than she normally was (blame the adrenaline), and, on the verge of tipping into the rushing waters below, activated her quirk. The ground became meaningless, as she and her mode of travel hovered effortlessly above it, continuing on the direction she was going beforehand. The constant weight on her shoulders had seemingly been lifted, if just for a moment.

What goes up must come down, lest it never comes back again. So, before she drifted off too far, she deactivated her quirk and let her fall back down to the road on the other side. That and voice a small cry of complaint about her tailbone suffering needlessly.

The rest of the trip continued without event, save for her constant worrying, concluding at an ornate gate. U.A. The place where heroes are made or broken. _This is it, I guess. Well, then._ After locking up her bike on a nearby rack, she fumbled around with her backpack, eventually pulling out a card and showing it at the front guard, who proceeded to open the gate to her and provide her a map to the arena.

The nervousness was all coming back to her again. The doubt, the worry, the concerns, the... 

"E-Excuse me, miss?"

... cute boy?

"Could you point me to the main arena?"

She studied the new voice's face intently. _Green frizzy hair and freckles. I don't think I've seen anything like that before._ "Mm, sure! Though, didn't you get a map when you entered through the gates?"

"O-Oh, so that's what that was."

_A little bit of a klutz, huh._ "Alright, here!" She unraveled the piece of paper she tucked away previously, and watched as the boy furiously worked on copying it in a notebook he pulled out from nowhere. It took her a few more seconds to realize that this was stupid. "You know what? Since we're both going to the same place, just follow me!"

"Are you sure that you're okay with that?" Heat was steadily rising to his face, but she did not notice.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"O-Ok, then." The boy slowly put down his notebook and started walking after her, who had already started walking.

Except the girl was curious, so she turned back around. "So, what's your name?"

"M-Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya."

"I'm Ochako Uraraka." She waved and bowed. "Nice to meetcha!" They continued walking. "What kind of Quirk you got?"

"I-I don't."

"Wait, what?"

"Oh no, sorry! I didn't mean that! I just... I don't like telling other people what my Quirk is."

"I won't judge you for your Quirk. You know what, I'll start! My Quirk lets me levitate things! Like anti-gravity!"

"Wait, like anything? Does it act like a force that counteracts gravity, or does it remove the effects of gravity? If it's a force, couldn't you change its direction? Where does the energy for that come from? Or-or, what about..." He went off at a mile a second with his ideas.

And he kept going.

And he kept going.

"Umm, Midoriya?"

Izuku responded by instantly covering his hands over his mouth and mumbling, "Sorry, my bad!"

"No worries!" She paused for a moment. "So, I promise I won't judge you, no matter what your Quirk is."

"I believe you, but... but... I just don't wanna tell anyone." He trembled for a moment. Whether it was out of shame or fear, Ochako couldn't tell.

"Alright, then. It's okay!"

"Thank yoooahh...." He trailed off as he looked upward.

Ochako turned towards both the direction they had been walking in and the thing Midoriya was looking at. A wall greeted her eyes. No, a fortress greeted her eyes. Behind the stone gates lied a miniature metropolis. Buildings towered even higher than the walls that guarded them. The only thing missing was the sound of a bustling city. This was their arena.

"Deku, what the fuck took you so long? I've been waiting for ten minutes!" They both turned in the direction of the new voice.

"Sorry, Kacchan. I kinda got lost on the way here."

"'Got lost'? How? Did you miss the damn maps they were shoving in your face?"

"I, uh, I kinda... I didn't know what it was, so..."

"So you just left it?"

"I-I don't know, I, uh-"

"Doesn't matter. No chance in hell you're gonna get a single point anyway, and you know it."

"Yeah, I-"

"No, stop it right there, Midoriya." She had had enough of the constant put-downs and aggression for no damn reason. "I don't know what your name is, spiky-haired kid, but I know that he can do plenty of great things." She turned towards Midoriya. "Don't you ever forget that." She turned back. "Now, stop being a bully!"

"Tch." The yet-to-be-named boy grunted, then chuckled. "Yo, Deku, you already got a girl waiting for you at home. Was one not enough for you?"

Midoriya panicked, hurriedly looking between her and the spiky boy. "W-W-What are you saying? You know I can't date her!"

"'Can't', huh? So you wanna?" The grin on the spiky boy's face spread.

And the red on Midoriya's face deepened. "N-No, that's not what I mea-"

Ochako couldn't stand it anymore, and burst out laughing. "Is this what you guys always do to each other?"

"So, what, you got a problem with that?" Spiky seemed to take great offense to that question.

"No, it's just..." she trailed off in her laughter before taking a deep breath. "How can you go from being so mean to so... so... adorable?" She wiped the tears left in her eyes.

Spiky paused for a moment, trying to come up with a response. He eventually settled on a simple, "Whatever."

"Oh, I'm Uraraka. Ochako Uraraka!" She bowed in greeting.

"I'm Katsuki Bakugou, and you better remember the name!" He didn't bow in response, much to the chagrin of Midoriya.

_Aww, I like 'Spiky' better._

* * *

"Hello, boys and girls, and welcome to the U.A. entrance exam! I'm your host, Present Mic! The rules are simple: there are four different types of enemy robots spread out across the field. Destroy them to gain points! The harder they are, the more points they provide! Those with the highest scores are admitted into our prestigious school. Note that the massive robot in the fourth column provides zero points when attacked, so be sure to avoid it! Before we let you in, the Number One Hero, All Might, would like to make a special announcement!"

"Thank you, Present Mic. We have slightly changed the scoring system for the event. Every single robot has a crystal at its core that, if retrieved, will automatically cause it to self-destruct. However, do note that it is not required for the robot to be intact before retrieving the crystals. To go with the change, points will not only be awarded for killing the enemy, but from confirming the kills based on the crystals returned by each examinee. That is to say that fifty percent of your points come from destroying the robots, and the other fifty comes from retrieving and returning their core crystals. It does not matter how the crystals are obtained, so long as they are valid, which means stealing them from other test-takers is as valid a strategy as any other! Back to you, Present Mic, and good luck to all of you on your exams!"

* * *

_You've got to be shitting me. I swear, if Deku fucks me over, I'm gonna murder that little shit!_

* * *

"All right, you heard the man! Good luck, and get started!"

* * *

Pandemonium reigned throughout the streets, the origins of which could be traced to a small collection of children. Rubble littered both the ground and the air as flesh fought against metal. If one were to look closer, however, they would notice that one of the children was not creating any of the pandemonium, but rather just running away from it. But, as he didn't know which way 'away' was, he was left with running in a random direction and hoping for the best. He was born without luck, so the first thing he ran into was an enemy bot.

Apparently, he was wrong about having no luck, because this bot was of the weakest variety, a 1-pointer. A 1-pointer that could still kill anyone without a Quirk to defend themselves. That reminded him of a special someone, someone who was about to no longer be a someone if he _didn't get a move on, right now!_ And yet, no matter how much he tried to move, his feet were glued to the ground like a deer in headlights. This was his end. _So much for being a hero._

And yet, a sound of energy building up off in the distance. Energy released towards him, but not quite, connecting with the enemy that sought to take his life just moments ago. Izuku opened his eyes and peered through its ashes, revealing a blonde boy with slightly curly short hair and a strange belt with a circle affixed to its center. Izuku remembered seeing him in the crowd at the beginning of the exam, but nothing else beyond. He quickly darted into the rubble and grabbed the crystal before looking at who he saved.

"Merci! We make a great team with you as my decoy, although I doubt I'll be seeing too much of you in the future." The implication was clear, the only question remaining was whether Izuku would take the bait.

But he wouldn't. He didn't need to. After all, in that moment, Izuku and the arrogant blonde boy were looking directly at each other. Red overlaid green, and fell upon an innocent once more.

* * *

"12 minutes on the clock!"

* * *

She really was in a battlefield. Or it sure felt like one, anyway. Around her, the remains of dead metal stretched to the horizon. But not quite all of it was dead. Uraraka darted around the warzone, tapping on four of the robots before putting the tips of her fingers together. She felt the weight of them crushing down on her shoulders as they slowly started rising up into the sky.

"Now, release!" The weight lifted off her shoulders in a single moment as the four soon-to-be-heaps-of-scrap-metal came crashing back down, leaving, well, heaps of scrap metal behind. "That should be at least 28 points!" Confirming her kills, she leapt over one of the fallen as she continued on her merry way.

"Umm, Uraraka?"

She thought she heard a voice call her name, but she was busy, so she gave it no mind.

"Uraraka!"

She faintly recognized the voice as a friendly, and it seemed to have some urgency, so she gave the voice a glance. Green curls immediately caught her eye. _Midori... something. What was it again?_ "Oh, hi! Need something?"

Silence and something approaching a glare was her response. In other words, nothing.

"Uhh, hello?"

Silence again.

"Umm, sorry, gotta go kill some more robots!" She darted off in search of another foe to destroy.

* * *

_Why the fuck didn't you do it?_

_She was nice to me!_

_And she's got enough points to pass while you're still twiddling your thumbs!_

_Yeah, but-_

_No time for buts, find someone else, now! Move it!_

Sometimes, Izuku had more than enough reason to doubt his own sanity.

* * *

"9 minutes remaining, folks!"

* * *

Looking down street after street after street, empty husks greeted her eyes. This was a battlefield, and 15 seconds was an eternity. She mentally kicked herself for falling for Midoriya's (now the name came to mind) distraction, and put him on her nemesis list.

As she approached another road, she noted a young boy whose indigo hair clearly had never seen a hairdresser. In fact, his entire demeanor screamed of a complete lack of maintenance. As she approached him, he took his free hand out of his pocket and thumbed in the general direction of the turn behind him. "There are a few left over there, if you're looking for extra points."

"Really?" Uraraka gleamed at the newfound luck, before doubt settled in. "Wait a sec, why should I-" Her mind went blank.

"You're right, you shouldn't have." The boy approached her at a steady pace, and he found herself unable to respond. "How many points have you gotten?"

"36." That was Uraraka's voice, yet she was not in control of it.

"Alright, give me a set of crystals totaling 12 points." The indigo-haired boy retained the same bored look the entire time.

Her hands moved mechanically, stringing her backpack off of her back, undoing the zipper, and pulling out 5 crystals, two 3-pointers and three 2-pointers. He silently accepted them and started walking off into the side road, leaving a brainwashed Ochako Uraraka in her place.

* * *

"6 minutes!"

* * *

Katsuki Bakugou loved to blow things up. He almost considered it part of his identity, and smelling the asphalt thrown into the air following his last explosion only reinforced that. He aimed his net set of bombs at the feet of the 3-pointer he was facing, and fired. Through the ashes, he heard the sound of metal crashing to the ground and bending, and that of an energy buildup, he darted to the left and watched as a beam blew the ashes away and left a hole in the building behind him. Bakugou responded by blowing off its weapon, taking its entire top off along with it. He moved swiftly, and pulled the crystal out of its core, watching with a splitting grin as the robot floundered slightly before completely falling to pieces.

He wasted no time finding a new target to dismantle, a mere 1-pointer that would cost him no sweat to crack open, and took off, creating fireballs behind him to accelerate even faster.

The downside to such a method, is that sudden stops become an impossibility, and Bakugou quickly remembered that as he tumbled down the concrete road, accruing a few extra scrapes on the way, before coming to a full stop. The only thing on his mind was figuring out what happened, and what he hit. Scanning the environment, his eyes fell on the only thing out of the place: spiky purple hair. A ‘who’, not a ‘what’. So this is the retard who got in my way. Is it that hard for people to look both fucking ways? The spiky boy also started to regain his senses, and locked eyes with the other. And in that moment, the only thing Bakugou saw was complete and utter detachment. He wasn’t even sure if there was something alive in the boy’s body.

Almost in response to those thoughts, the spiky boy’s soul sought to be known. “Watch your speed, asshole. Are you retarded?” He dusted himself off and started walking off, but not before muttering a few choice words just loud enough for Bakugou to hear but not understand.

Bakugou’s pride acted before his mind. “What did you say about me, you little shit?” He prepare a few explosions, ready to pulverize the deadbeat meat.

The spiky boy stopped dead in his tracks and started chuckling, turning around slowly. The chuckle rose in intensity and abruptly stopped. “Too easy, man.” He started bringing his hand up towards his neck. “Too easy.”

Bakugou lunged towards the boy, always keeping him perfectly centered in his line of sight. During that, he took a deep look at him, analyzing him. The spiky boy was not reacting at all to the movement, but not because he gave up. It looked to Bakugou almost as if the boy _didn’t need to_. He hadn’t felt this aura from anyone, anyone but--

* * *

To him, this was getting boring. Every single 'fight' would be the same: he'd walk up to them, goad them, get them to respond, brainwash them, and take enough points to be annoying but not enough to single-handedly kick them out. The only difference Hitoshi Shinso saw between this engage and every other one he's had today was that his opponent, a kid with spiky blonde hair, really, _really_ needed to take some anger management classes. That combined with what Hitoshi suspected was the kid's quirk, and he was genuinely surprised that any part of this city was still left standing.

He readjusted his focus to the fist coming to his face. _Oh, right. I have a job to finish._ He brought his hand up to his neck, but not before noticing some peculiar behavior. His target suddenly stopped, did a 180, and brought his hands up to his ears. Hitoshi gave it brief thought before shrugging it off and activating his Quirk.

The kid's hands dropped to their side instantly, otherwise staying still in his tracks. 

"Turn around, please."

He did so, slowly and methodically.

"How many points have you gathered?" Normally, he'd be nice, but he was in a time crunch.

"72."

Briefly stunned by the number, he quickly regained his composure. "Alright, give me some totalling 20."

Biological arms moved mechanically as the kid began withdrawing the necessary crystals from his satchel. 

* * *

Alley after alley, searching after someone Izuku should have kept better track of to begin with. He cursed himself, so easily forgetting to account for the possibility of there being someone else with a mental Quirk. It's not like they didn't exist amongst the population, but in past years, the Hero examination never gave them a chance in hell of passing, so most of them ended up with desk jobs. Or, in particularly nasty cases, as Villains.

_Looks like I wasn't the only one foolish enough to try anyway._ That bit of mirth reinvigorated him, if only briefly. He had first taken notice of the Quirk holder after tailing Uraraka for a brief bit. (He wasn't stalking, merely using her for protection, as he told himself.) Of course, right when he was in Izuku's grasp, a 3-pointer dropped down right next to him, with him barely escaping with his life after luring it into a group of three attack-type Quirk holders who blew it to shreds. He did feel slightly sorry about Geassing them right after, as they did save his life, but he had an exam to pass. Only after that did he remember he hadn't taken note of there the mental user was going.

Which brought Izuku back to this current moment, chasing tangentially after the main action to try and find him. His only idea was simply to hope that, since their abilities were similar enough, they'd be using the same strategies throughout the exam, which makes the question of 'where would the mysterious Quirk user be?' to be one of 'where would Izuku Midoriya be?'

He heard more commotion directly to the left, so he turned down one alley over and started sprinting again. The commotion got louder and louder, until silence suddnely engulfed his ears. That was the signal Izuku was looking for. He stopped running and focused on regulating his breath and listening.

"-points have you gathered?" That was the Quirk user's voice, he was sure of it.

"72." _Kacchan!_

Izuku stopped listening and started moving.

* * *

"3 minutes, I repeat, 3 minutes!"

* * *

If he hadn't known any better, Hitoshi would've sworn that the kid in front of him was stalling. But, he did know better, and he did know that one of the problems with what essentially was remote hypnosis is that the body won't operate at 100% speed. So he patiently waited, and was rewarded with the kid in front of him finishing collecting the crystals he collected.

As the blonde kid started his approach, Hitoshi heard movement towards the right edge of the intersection in front. Darting his head, he saw green peek out around the corner before a body fully emerged.

It had been a while since he had controlled more than one person at a time, but he still felt like he needed he could do it. He needed that confidence now, more than ever. "Hey, who are-"

A heavy silence engulfed him, save for the rustling of the blonde kid's feet as he walked toward him. The boy in green opened his eyes fully, revealing a set of large green orbs. In an instant, one of them turned red, and Hitoshi's mind went dark.

* * *

" **Surrerender control of the person in front of you, and never use your Quirk on me or anyone I care about again!** "

Bakugou instantly felt himself regain control of his body, and turned towards the familiar voice.

"Alright, I understand." The purple-haired boy blinked twice. "Huh, wha-" He brought his hand up to his neck, seemingly to try and activate his Quirk again. Upon seeing no change, he tapped again, to no avail. "What did you do to me?"

"Apparently made you toast, is what." Bakugou gave a brief chuckle. "Now, about those crystals you were asking for..."

In response to the implication, the purple-haired boy tried to use his Quirk again. "It should work, but I can't--It's like it just won't." The boy looked up towards Bakugou and Deku, and merely slumped his shoulders. "I guess I'm out, then." He chuckled. "Damn, I had a good shot, too."

Bakugou laughed harder this time. "Damn straight." He readied a few shots, but he didn't miss the glare the brainwasher gave Deku.

* * *

_So, this is how it must feel like. No wonder they all hate me._

* * *

"1 minute left! 1 minute!"

* * *

A tug from behind him caused his fireballs to fizzle away. In response, an irate Bakugou turned to face a quizzing Deku. "Now what the fuck do you want?"

"Do you-do you think it's really necessary to, uhh, to force him out?"

Bakugou was, for a moment, truly baffled. "What the fuck? He nearly kicked _me_ out!"

"Yes, but you want to hurt him, don't you?"

"He deserves it." He started his fireballs again. "And it's not like you can stop me, you little runt." He moved in for his target, whose expression hadn't changed since he gave up. Completely resigned, not even slightly scared. _Well, well, that's no good, is it?_ Bakugou smirked.

"No, I _will_." The tug was more forceful this time, and Bakugou flipped around under the force. "No more hurting people!" At the end, he found himself staring straight into Deku's eyes, eyes full of absolute conviction.

He only saw the flash, and sky filled his vision. Something sent Bakugou flying backwards, and he followed up instantly by creating a few explosions behind him to arrest his momentum and managed land right back on his feet. He refocused his eyes, and witnessed what sent him flying. 

Deku Midoriya crashed down into the concrete, tumbling over and over again, bumping into the curb and slowing him down enough that Bakugou could barely hear him collide with the brick wall at the end. Blood littered the streets where he tumbled, trickling from his mouth and arms where he landed.

He saw between them a plume of smoke larger than he'd ever made, and looked down at his hand, redder than it had ever been. He didn't know he had thrown a fireball, nor did he know he could make so strong.

He looked back up at Deku. The blood had filled the cracks on the sidewalk and started spilling onto the ground.

"What... my God--" Bakugou had fogotten they weren't alone, and looked back to witness the purple-haired boy drop his resigned expression for one of complete and utter shock. And, when the boy slowly moved his eyes from the body on the ground to the kid who put him on the ground, Bakugou swore that he would never forget the look he gave him. It was the kind you would give a Villain, one that had just taken away innocent life.

He spun back around. "Get up, Deku! Stop messing around, I know you're fine!" He walked over to the body slowly and gently, watching for some form of movement, anything to tell him that Deku was just messing with him. When he got to it, Bakugou dropped to his knees and tried to lift him up with one hand, only for Deku to slip right back out, coating Bakugou's hand with blood.

"Deku, get the fuck up! Deku, please!" Bakugou covered his eyes with his hands. "Deku!" _Why is he still faking it? Why?_ He screamed, not of physical pain, but of a mind left unkempt. The only thing louder was the noise of spinning helicopter blades descending above him. When he freed his head to look up, he noticed both his hands were wet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN (8/23/18): Long time no upload.


	6. Quiet's Interlude

Light shone through the skin of Izuku's pupil, hitting the unfocused retina underneath. In response, the cones and rods overlaying the inside start sending electrical pulses to the Occipital cortex, taking him away from his sleeping state and beginning to start processing the various other senses of the body.

"--not that severe, surprisingly. He mainly had a cut across his head, and cuts there tend to bleed more than in most places."

"So, it's bad! What do I do, what do I-"

"Relax, the cut didnt damage anything much. We didn't detect any abnormalities in or around the brain or any other body part for that matter. A blood transfusion and my Quirk was all he needed. Don't worry, he should wake up within the day."

"Oh, thank you, thank you so much!"

"Recovery Girl, I think he's regaining consciousness." Izuku wasn't ready for a new voice to make itself known so closely and loudly, inciting a small grunt from his part.

"What do you know?"

"Izuku!"

With great effort, he managed to crack his left eye open, then his right. The streaming light multiplied tenfold, so he left his eyes at a crack. Mustering up the little strength he could, he managed to utter two words. "Hi... mom."

"I was so worried--I'm still so worried! How are you feeling? Do you feel any pain? Of course you do, of course you do. Don't worry, it will get better!"

Izuku grunted again, wishing for sleep to come back again, for just-- _silence_.

"Izuku? Izuku!"

"Y-Yes, mom." Deep breath. "I know, I'll get better, I promise."

The door smashed open heroically, startling Izuku into a much higher state of wakefulness. "OF COURSE YOU'LL GET BETTER!"

"A-A-All... Might..." Izuku tried to sound enthusiastic before being quickly reminded why trying to exert a lot of energy while recovering was not a good idea.

"Relax, boy, just focus on getting better." He paused before smiling. "Also, I was wondering if you'd like to see your acceptance letter."

"A-Acceptance?"

"Yes. That is to say that YOU'VE BEEN ACCEPTED TO U.A.!"

Izuku's excitement was cut short by an image of Bakugou with his hand extended made itself known to him again. "Ba... ku... gou?"

The pensive look on All Might's face gave him all the answer he needed, and he noticed an unusual constricting in his chest.

"Doctor, we have massive blood pressure spike!"

Recovery Girl didn't seem to give it much thought beyond what was necessary (completely contrasting with Inko's current composure). "All right, that's it for today. Visiting hours are over. Older Midoriya, All Might, out the door."

* * *

# Stage 6: Quiet's Interlude

"So, when you get these feelings of anger, what would you attribute most of the reasoning to?"

_Right now, this fucking moron in front of me._ Katsuki Bakugou felt ready to crush everything that was in front of him. "I... don't... know." But--

_"You will be assigned someone to evaluate you and see if you can rehabilitate, and your admission to U.A. depends on his conclusion."_ So, kept his fists clenched and put all of his current energy into not obliterating the psychologist in front of him.

"All right, in that case, when was the last time you remember getting angry? Now, be honest, I won't judge you for any outcome or situation."

_Hey, if he said be honest..._ "Right now? You. I'm angry because I have to talk to _you_."

"Ok, now there we have a start. Were you angry before we started talking, or did something mentioned during this conversation trigger it?"

Bakugou, for all the life of him, could not understand how this could possibly be useful in getting a hero course. "I told you, this isn't helping. This is fucking stupid!"

The psychologist, for whom Bakugou couldn't be arsed to remember the name of, merely sighed. "I don't think we're on the same page here. How would you like me to work with you?"

"I don't need your damn help!"

"I'm sure the poor boy from the exam might want disagree."

Bakugou's stomach nearly shot up to his throat.

* * *

The first steps were slow and heavy, simply ensuring balance against the ground. One after the other, after the other, after the other, after the other, and a stop and a lean against the doorframe.

"Nice job! Can you stand upright?" The doctor's comments were optimistic, yet urging.

So, he complied, and upright he was.

Recovery Girl took over the conversation. "You'll need someone with you at all times. I'll assign one of our nurses-"

"That won't be necessary." Izuku recoiled at the sudden appearance of All Might in the hallway (and marveled at how he got there without him noticing). He was about to exclaim his surprise again, then realized that All Might might've started to find those annoying. "I can watch him for today. I did have a few things I wanted to talk about with him anyway."

Izuku marveled at the opportunity to spend an entire day (a _day_ ) with his idol, but tried to act calm about him.

"Fine by me, but, Yagi." Izuku noticed All Might look past him to Recovery Girl. "Be gentle." Izuku had never heard her talk like that before.

* * *

"So, have you met your homeroom teacher yet?" Toshinori broke the developing silence between them.

"N-No."

"Do you know a Pro Hero by the name of Shota Aizawa?"

"Yes--" All Might watched the young protégé's downed expression melt away into delight and awe.

"You mean the real Eraserhead is teaching us?" Midoriya's smile went nearly from ear to ear.

"You're in U.A., young Midoriya. Only the best of the best make it here, and only the best of the best teach here." 

"When can I start?"

"Not for another week, likely. I talked to Recovery Girl recently, and you'll still need a bit of time before you can start doing physical activity again. That does mean that you'll miss out on the first few activities planned, but you should be ready again for the field trip coming up. However, Midoriya, there is something I wanted to talk to you about." Toshinori's mood slightly soured, which the budding Hero picked up on. "During the hero exam, we had camera drones covering the entire field, along with quite a few on the field itself. We had been reviewing the footage taken right before the encounter with the other boy, Bakugou." He turned around, and looked straight at Midoriya, noticing that he had slightly paled. "Midoriya, why would you want him to harm you?"

* * *

* * *

The edge of his jacket caught on some rubble, and he merely stopped to give it a tug before continuing towards his destination. He wondered how the adults there were treating the kids he put under their care, and the kind of experiences they imparted on them. But, mostly, he cared about Akio. Abandoned near a river with nobody around to answer his cries, he reminded Edumanu of himself. But, while he had embraced those memories, the crying baby would never get a chance like he did. He looked up and down the blank gesturing to the baby, only to get blank or disgusted stares in return. He almost decided to do the same thing, but he remembered himself. His vision watering and dreary as he lay on the ground with his life ebbing away before his very hands. No, he wouldn't, not again.

Edumanu soon learned why the parents just left him behind. He couldn't hear, or rather the ears almost hadn't developed at all. At first, it wasn't a problem, but when he started learning how to walk, Edumanu realized how difficult it was trying to keep track of an autonomous being that couldn't make its own decisions or process a caretaker's calls. So, he started working on teaching the baby basic signs, and learned how much he himself depended on the ability to communicate with sound. With time and practice came in improvement in their communications skills, and the toddler was able to say simple phrases like, 'I'm hungry' and 'Help me'. Edumanu showed him how to sign his name, and realized, in the year he spent taking care of the baby, he had never given him a name. 'Akio' sounded fitting.

* * *

It was near his second birthday that Edumanu learned of his Quirk. The wind that escaped the small living room where Akio was watching TV followed by shattering glass instantly sent Edumanu running to check up on him to find a room barren of anything but destruction. The boy had vanished, leaving nothing but ashes. He retraced his steps all throughout, trying to remember where Akio had been recently. Another memory emerged, one of his first of Akio. He remembered the toddle trying to crawl in a certain direction, but he couldn't remember which way. There was something important about that, he was sure, but just didn't know what.

He found the riverbank again. The water was the same as he remembered, but there was no familiar face to be found. He was sure that he was at the exact spot, using the two barren benches nearby as his reference. And, when Edumanu first found Akio, he was crawling...

Edumanu turned around and looked to his 7 o'clock. There he found an entrance to a back alley, and his path once more.

Happy wails dimly echoed throughout the halls, creating a continuous cacophony of young laughter and grown voices overlaid upon each other. He followed the voices, deeper, getting lost in the maze that was old Tokyo. The crumbling buildings that were never properly renovated or given the honor of being wiped from the face of the Earth, he remembered them as they were standing. The hotel, the china and furniture shop he occasionally stopped frequented, a fast food place, all standing proudly over time as it ate away at them. There, he found Akio, laughing and cheering, and others embracing and dancing around him. Edumanu stood there and watched, watched an Akio behave truly like a child. He watched as a baby found home again.

At every moment, he considered calling out to Akio, and at every moment, another one of his laughs echoed through the alley. Edumanu knew he wasn't a great caretaker, or even a good one, but he wondered what made the child so responsive here. Were Akio's parents in the crowd? Did someone else recognize him? In his curiosity, he moved closer, stopping only to move a particularly large piece of glass out of the way.

"Etta!" Edumanu chuckled despite himself. Whenever he tried to teach Akio his name, Akio always gave up past the second syllable, and couldn't hear how he was pronouncing his 'd's too much like 't's.

The chuckle turned into a grunt as Akio ran into him with full force, nearly knocking him over in the process. "Etta!"

"Calm down, relax, stop." Edumanu sighed as Akio ignored his signs continued to bury himself into his coat further and further.

"Etta!"

Edumanu looked past his burden into the crowd of spectators, some with unease, and some with anger.

"Who are you?" Edumanu couldn't tell who in the crowd asked, only that the voice was female.

"I'm Akio's caretaker, and have been for the past year."

"What's his quirk?" A male voice this time.

Edumanu quirked his eye at the question. "Why do you want to know?"

A male moved forward, followed by several others as if reacting to a cue. "You're in no position to ask questions."

Edumanu looked at the advancing crowd, then to Akio. The three people on the left, he figured he could take them out in 7 seconds, but he worried about the 4 people on the right who would notice his switchblade and surround him, then he wouldn't have a chance. Or, he could take the beatings and slashes himself, an hope that the shock factor would scare them off. But such a plan would leave Akio vulnerable in the time it takes him to regenerate, so he scrapped that plan.

The male closest to the middle was suddenly dragged backwards, revealing a middle-aged female. "Excuse my partner. He can be overzealous at times. We're asking because we might know who the child's parents were, and knowing what, ehm, Akio's quirk is would help us make sure."

A reasonable answer, Edumanu thought, but the implicit threat still hung in the air. A safe answer would be best here. "I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure he used it for the first time just a few hours ago, and I wasn't there to watch it."

"You have to have some idea, right?" Edumanu's suspicions were confirmed, but he was in checkmate.

"Maybe." The female continued to examine him expectantly. "He was in my living room, then I heard things crashing, and when I checked the room, he was gone. Next, I find him here." While he hadn't said _exactly_ what the Quirk was, it wasn't too difficult to read between the lines.

"So, we're talking teleportation?" Not too difficult, indeed.

"...Possibly."

A soft murmur escaped the crowd. "So, it's her kid." They started conversing among each other.

"Etta!" Edumanu looked down at Akio, who was struggling to sign. _"I... like.... them."_

"I guessed." He picked Akio up, and left in a silent rush.

* * *

The next jump was similar to the first, but just as surprising. After a year of tranquility, the nanny at the time gave a panicked call to Edumanu after Akio disappeared, saying how she looked everywhere for him and couldn't find him. Edumanu considered telling her where to find the toddler, but that would mean she would know that he forgot to tell her that Akio had a Quirk. So, he merely sighed, and started working his way back down Mount Senjō.

The atmosphere was different this time. Anger was replaced by fear and disgust. A familiar face grabbed him with unfamiliar hands.

"Who the hell is that kid?" There were tears that fell from her eyes, but the only thing he could feel is the dampening of his shirt. "He- he- he- "

Edumanu looked past her at the rest of the alley, and saw the blood pooling at one of the intersections. Reacting at the sight, he shrugged her off as if she were nothing, and moved through her group to witness the chaos.

Akio, who was wholesale covered with blood and guts on the right with mild spattering on the left. And a mook, who was missing guts from the left side of his body, and less noticeably, a pulse.

Matter displacement, he mused. A variant of teleportation he'd seen in several science fiction books and television shows as an alternative to merging in the event of teleporting into an occupied space. That was incredibly rare when it came to Quirks, with only 3 documented so far (that he could recall).

"You think you can just ignore us!" Edumanu felt hands on him turn him around into the direction of a fist.

Unfortunately for them, they forgot to look at his sleeve.

The one closest to him, the female, received the butt end of the hatchet, loosening her up just enough for him to respond to the other threat with the dull end of the head. There were three left to respond, so he doubled back and caught the female before she could regain her balance, flipped her around, and brought the hatchet to her throat.

In their stupor, he initiated. "Who are Akio's parents?" Edumanu paused for a moment. "Sorry, bad question. What were their Quirks?"

The woman in his grasp grunted for a moment. "Why do you care?"

"Because he was abandoned for them."

Underneath his grasp, the woman gulped, and he noticed a shift in everyone else's composure. "Fine, I'll tell you! I'll tell you everything!" She changed to a more pleading voice. "Just, please..."

"If you ever try to harm me, you will have hell to pay. And if you harm Akio out of ignorance, hell will be a dream for you." Edumanu relaxed, both himself and his hatchet, and nudged the woman forward.

In silence, Edumanu listened. In his silence, he regretted.

* * *

He had stuck his head in the sand, and he knew it. Convinced that he had no need to do anything, he filled his time with learning. And, in all the learning that he did, he forgot to learn about the true world in his belief that he already knew everything there is to know about it. In his arrogance, he blinded himself. After altering the world over a century ago, he thought it simply needed time to recover and come back stronger. Now, his goal was to verify that statement, or disprove it.

He came to an agreement with the gang that he met. Since Akio's quirk more or less grounded him to their location, they would take care of Akio, and Edumanu would help them get better off, if not through money, then with work that would integrate Akio's quirk. Truthfully, he wanted to train Akio, and figured the field would be the best place for him to learn. If he wanted to be in a good place in the future, he would have to start training early, so he could compensate for his disability.

As for him, he took some time off his teaching position at the nearby university and hired a private investigator with the funds he had saved. Last but not least, he knew a con artist that still owed him a favor. With this, he had a start.

The only obstacle now was time.

* * *

And time passed. There were slow days, and there were others, days of progress and learning. It was on those days that life truly had a purpose for him. It was on those days that he felt truly invincible beyond the physical.

He occasionally visited Akio, bringing some more sign language to teach him with each visit. He would apply that knowledge, not just between him and Akio, but between the loose family that Akio had here. With time, bonds strengthened, and they were able to get over the accident, if only in appearance.

Edumanu's research also brought up something. He was able to get some insight into government payroll, and noticed nearly a trillion yen that came in hadn't gone anywhere. Either it was being spent in secret, or it wasn't being used at all.

There was more work to do, but he could care less in that moment. All that was in front of him now is a wall of ice. He was never able to finish climbing the mountain last time, and he wasn't the type of person to ignore a challenge. As he put one foot over the other and moved his hatchet ever upwards, he recalled the locations of the thought elevators, the ones the old empire obsessed over so furtively, and wondered if the people of this age were trying to do it again.

No one before had succeeded in utilizing the elevators to their fullest potential, but there was nothing divine stopping anyone from doing so. The only thing that ever stood in their way was themselves. However, if he wanted to use them, he noted, he'd have to find another bearer.

* * *

While he didn't expect the people he hired to so easily lose her, Edumanu hadn't been expecting to be able to work with her immediately anyway, remembering the kind of person she was. He did find it slightly annoying that he didn't even get a chance to try and talk to her and find some mutual agreement. Considering how he found her, though, he wasn't even sure if she would be able to anymore. But, it was either her or some other Codebearer, and the last time he'd seen another hadn't even happened this century.

That was a task to accomplish later, as right now the results of the U.A. entrance exam just came through. While he didn't have much interest in heroics, he was curious about what kind of people would be the next major heroes. So he scrolled through the list, names, faces, and Quirks all melting together until one.

Green spiky hair, and a few freckles on the sides. And now, Edumanu had a name for him: Izuku Midoriya. He'd found her contractor, and, by corollary, C.C. herself.

Now that a whole host of problems were eliminated and new ideas started dancing in his head, he found potential to be had.

* * *

The edge of his jacket caught on some rubble, and he merely stopped to give it a tug before continuing towards his destination. He wondered how the adults there were treating the kids he put under their care, and the kind of experiences they imparted on them. But, mostly, he cared about Akio. He hadn't been able to talk to him or witness his progress nearly as much as he wanted to (even missing his fifth birthday), but at this point, he had enough trust in the little group of his. He turned the corner, and there he was, surrounded by his mother figure and various other people Akio took to calling 'big bros.' Akio came running to him, and he quietly excused both of them from the group.

Akio still struggled to make words, and Edumanu was proficient in sign language enough to easily make sense of Akio's signs.

So, Edumanu asked one simple question. 'Are you happy here?'

Akio started to sign 'yes,' then paused. He tried again with 'no,' but then paused. He ended up settling on a simple shrug.

'Do you enjoy your life?'

Again, Akio shrugged.

'Do you want to leave?'

Akio instantly replied with a nod.

'Would you trade your Quirk for it?'

Again, a nod. Edumanu forgot how smart Akio was sometimes, as he seemed to have no struggle understanding any of his gestures.

But still, 5 years of age is nowhere near enough to be able to make decisions about your life with full understanding of what the decisions entail. Edumanu would have to decide for him, and only one fact pushed him over: despite the training Akio put into controlling his Quirk over the years. Outbursts or emotional tantrums would activate his Quirk without Akio actively thinking about it. It was a particular pain point the gang brought up from time to time but they learned to work with it.

So, he decided to relieve them of an additional burden, only granted by the fact he gave him this condition to begin with. Edumanu put a single hand on Akio's shoulder.

" **Akio.** "

Having never been able to hear a single word before, Akio didn't know how to react, or even where the sound was coming from, leaving him spinning in confusion.

" **I propose a deal. I will give you a new power if you agree to help me. While living in the world of humans, you will live unlike any other. A different providence, a different time, a different life. The power of the king will condemn you to a life of solitude. Are you prepared for this?** "

Edumanu almost felt a twinge of guilt at Akio's enthusiastic reply.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN (11/29/18): So, I had this chapter done for 2 months and kind of forgot to post it.
> 
> Oops.


End file.
